Friends and allies

Ballykilcavan began its "Clancy's Cans" series of limited editions two years ago with a raspberry wheat beer. It looks like they've decided to make it a regular part of their range now, adjusting the ABV downwards slightly to 5% and giving it the name of Robinson's Revenge, commemorating an incident on the farm in 1861 involving a stroppy gardener. The specs are otherwise largely the same as before, from the pinkish-amber colour to the contrasting flavours of sweet fruit purée and bitter American hops. The latter dominate the aroma: from sniffing it, one could be forgiven for thinking that a classic grapefruitish pale ale is what's on offer. The raspberry -- concentrated and candy-like -- comes through immediately in the foretaste, but quickly followed by quite a harshly acidic bitterness. It's a strange pairing and I don't think it quite works. Each is fine on its own but they don't really belong together. The original version was saved by a soft texture but I didn't get that here, where a dry prickly mouthfeel only accentuates the harshness. Fewer hops and more wheat, would be my preference.

The limited series itself is still running, of course, and has now reached Clancy's Cans #8: Foreign Export Stout. The appearance is the very essence of stout: a dense black with a generous nicotine-stain head of loose bubbles. There's a surprising sweetness in the aroma -- strawberries and cherries -- plus some more typical liquorice and tar. While the fruit doesn't hang around for the flavour, it is still quite a sweet beer, the foretaste full of caramel, intensified by the sticky texture. This is a sipper, as one might expect at 7.4% ABV. Behind the dark sugar there's an old-fashioned, old-world vegetal bitterness, not dissimilar to the raspberry wheat beer, in fact, but much more simpatico with the rest of the features. Overall, this pretty much nails what export stout ought to be: nothing fancy, but presenting enough of a challenge to make you take your time drinking it.

Beer three is also a stout, part of the Drinkers for Ukraine charitable project. Resist follows a recipe set by the project and is an imperial stout with added beetroot. There's a reddish tinge to the head and a definite earthy root vegetable tint to the aroma. The flavour makes great use of beetroot's sweeter qualities, putting that purpleness front and centre in the foretaste. The stout behind gives it a backing of treacle and chocolate. It may be a concept recipe designed to make a statement, but it also tastes really good. Beetroot is a divisive ingredient and this does a great job of showing off how well it works in strong dark beer. And you get to feel virtuous while drinking it. Budmo!

Props, I guess, to the brewery for providing the sort of variety a fruited wheat beer brings, but this customer would be perfectly happy with more strong stouts.